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Treasury blocks some journalists from covering G20 finance meeting
🇺🇸 United States /Elections & Politics

Treasury blocks some journalists from covering G20 finance meeting

From PBS NewsHour · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Treasury Department denied some journalists credentials for the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, without explaining the decision.
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the exclusions had nothing to do with the reporters’ points of view, while affected news organizations condemned the restrictions.
  • The decision comes amid escalating tensions between the Trump administration and U.S. media over access and press freedom.

Several major news organizations will have fewer reporters inside a meeting where finance ministers are discussing Iran, sanctions, bond markets and inflation. The U.S. Treasury Department denied credentials to individual journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News for the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville, North Carolina.

it has nothing to do with point of view

— Scott BessentThe Treasury secretary’s response to questions about the denied credentials.

Treasury has not explained the decision. Secretary Scott Bessent told The Associated Press that “it has nothing to do with point of view.” The New York Times reporter Alan Rappeport, who has covered Treasury and similar meetings since 2017, was among those denied access. Another Times journalist, Berlin bureau chief Jim Tankersley, was allowed to attend.

The Times called the exclusions “not just another disturbing effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny.” It said the gathering’s agenda carried stakes for the global economy and the American public, and described the exclusion of specific reporters and entire news organizations as “a disservice to the public and an assault on press freedoms.”

not just another disturbing effort by the administration to undermine independent journalism, but a blatant attempt to evade public scrutiny

— The New York TimesThe newspaper’s statement criticizing the access restrictions.

Bloomberg said numerous journalists, including reporters based in Europe and Asia, had their accreditation requests rejected. The agency said denying it access “undermines media freedom and public accountability.” The Wall Street Journal declined to comment.

a disservice to the public and an assault on press freedoms

— The New York TimesThe newspaper’s description of excluding reporters and news organizations.

Bessent is hosting the meeting, which runs from Saturday through Tuesday and includes finance ministers, central bank governors and senior officials from the world’s largest economies. The dispute adds to broader tensions between the U.S. media and President Donald Trump’s second administration. Earlier this year, the Defense Department made its press office a classified space inaccessible to journalists, after demanding that reporters accept government-imposed restrictions on their work.

undermines media freedom and public accountability

— Bloomberg NewsBloomberg’s response to the rejection of its journalists’ accreditation requests.
About this summary

Originally published by PBS NewsHour in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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